Reports regarding minor auto accidents, harassing phone calls, motor vehicle burglaries, graffiti, theft and other low-level offenses must be filed online as of July 3.
Brian Martinez, a spokesperson for the department, said reports can still be made over the phone if people have trouble filing them online. To make a report on the web, go to dallaspolice.net and click the button on the home page that reads “File a Police Report Online.” That will take the user to another page with different categories of incidents eligible for online reporting.
Martinez said the department hopes to see lower response times with the new online reporting requirement.
This reporting system has been operational for three years, according to the department. Reports can be made from a phone, tablet, computer or at kiosks that can be found at DPD substations. The investigative process on the department’s end is the same as if an officer had taken the report on scene. In 2022, online and phone reporting saved 51,188 hours of officer patrol time, according to the department.
The department has seen an increase in high-priority calls compared to last year. From January 1, 2022, to April 30, 2022, there were 11,495 priority 1 calls, which includes shootings and stabbings. In the same four months this year, there were 12,368. There was also an increase in priority 2 calls, such as those for domestic violence."I think this is what’s best for the city and what’s best for the department.” – Mike Mata, Dallas Police Association
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Priority 1 and 2 calls require multiple officers at the scene for long periods of time. The increase of such calls has led to slower response times, according to the department. Some lower-priority calls have seen response times increase by as much as 53% since last year.
From 2019 through 2022, about 19% of all calls that were dispatched for service could have been reported online or by phone, according to DPD. All of those calls took up about 135,000 patrol officer hours.
A consulting firm hired by the department in 2020 recommended DPD divert certain calls to online or phone reporting, or to other agencies to improve response times in Dallas. One example of that advice put into action by the city is the transfer of parking violation enforcement and street blockages from DPD to the Dallas Department of Transportation earlier this year.
Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, said the online reporting requirement has been supported by officers and he thinks it’s a good move for the city. He said DPD can no longer do what it could when it had more officers, and something had to change.On July 3, @DallasPD will require mandatory online reporting of certain NON-EMERGENCY offenses through the Dallas Police Online Reporting System.
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) July 3, 2023
Its quick, saves you time, and frees our officers for higher emergency calls.
Head to https://t.co/gu5rzdAMSj to file, or learn more. pic.twitter.com/MZvYsIU8VR
“It’s going to be a very long time before we ever catch up to where we need to be or where we should be as far as manpower,” Mata said. “Because of that, that customer service that we have long given to the city of Dallas, which very few cities actually do still, we just can’t do any more. And I think we’re actually hurting our relationship with the community more than helping it by not changing to doing something different.”
The city has tried for years to reach staffing levels of 3,600–4,000 officers, but it’s consistently fallen 400-500 officers short of that goal. Mata said the department wants to be able to focus more on responding to higher-priority calls like violent felonies, situations where the suspect is still on the scene and domestic violence calls. That’s what he hopes will happen with the change, but he said he understands if some are upset that an officer won’t be taking these reports in person.
“I understand the citizen,” he said. “You pay taxes, you expect the officer to show up. I completely understand that. The problem is, because of the manpower, yeah, we’re going to show up but sometimes we show up three, four, five hours later. It doesn’t do well for the relationship between the officer and the community.”
Mata said he thinks the new online reporting requirement will make the process faster and better for everyone.
“We are taking their complaints very seriously,” he said. “I think that officers are going to respond more quickly to those serious calls in need of help, so in the bigger picture, I think this is what’s best for the city and what’s best for the department.”
